


The Ghost of an Empress

by therune



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 11:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14831138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therune/pseuds/therune
Summary: post DH! speculation about DH2, non-canon compliantEmily is on the run and encounters an old enemy





	The Ghost of an Empress

She ran until her legs ached and every breath burned like fire in her lungs. But she couldn't stop. Not with all of Serkonos out for her blood, having assassinated the duke. Her Lord Protector imprisoned for helping her. Of course it wasn't true. But that hadn't stopped the guards. Corvo had thrown her through the window into the sea, whispering two things. "I love you, Emily" and then after with barely enough breath "There's a house, alone on a hill near the coast".  
After a lifetime or 3 seconds of falling, something tugged at her hand, she could hear herself screaming although no sound left her lips. The impact hurt less than she expected. 

 

But she was on her way, to the lone house. Corvo was Serkonan, after all, maybe he had sent her to his family?   
She heard a whisper when she approached her destination. She just knew that this was what Corvo had meant. Objectively, it was a normal house, two floors with yellow walls and red tiles on the roof. Subjectively, it made her skin crawl. 

 

Her clothes clung to her wetly, she smelled and could barely keep her eyes open. She'd need time to think. A sword. Then she'd get Corvo back, then... she shook her head and walked the last steps. There was no wind. No animal sounds in the dark. No noise from any inhabitant.   
But there was this whisper and the door swung open.   
As she stepped inside, her eyes spotted a figure sitting at a table in the darkness. Starlight through the window showed her the outline. 

"Hello," she said, cursing how foolish it sounded.

"Ah," a man's voice - dark, gravely - greetd her as if he had been expecting her. "Your majesty."

She kept the door open. 

"I didn't even notice falling asleep," the man muttered, "I guess it's getting worse. Although I'm not sure how it could be worse."

Drunken rambling? But he didn't seem drunk, not really....

"Corvo sent me," she continued, waiting for a reply.

"It wasn't mercy, I knew that. He should have put me out of my misery when I was too cowardly and begged for my life. But I deserve life. This life. I did dream about him, too, coming after me in that mask. But only you, before and after. Every night, your majesty."

She heard a bottle being uncorked, a glass filled with liquid. 

"To you," he offered, "I must have gone mad," he continued, "why do I keep offering you a drink when you can't take one?"

She felt uneasy. Why had Corvo sent her to this rambling madman? 

"Nobody should have to kill an empress," the man said and stood up. He wasn't staggering, seemed neither tired nor drunk nor unsteady. Her hands closed around the knife she kept in her pocket.

"I'm sorry, Jessamine."

Then a lantern was lit, and she gasped. 

 

She looked into her mother's murderer's face. The Knife of Dunwall looked at her. Gone was the red coat, gone his flock of masked men. His face looked tan and with more lines, hair longer and turned white.   
Objectively, he looked like a farmer or fisherman, clad in dark linen trousers and a simple white shirt. But she knew he was more than that. Just like this house. He was different. 

 

"Daud."

"Empress Kaldwin."

"Did you come to finish what Corvo started?" he asked. He didn't seem distressed. But also not keen, as if he was asking about salvation. He was calmly interested. 

"Corvo sent me," she repeated. "I...we are in trouble."

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. 

"No."

"Are you refusing me?" she asked, every bit of authority and imperial majesty laid in her voice. Her mother had taught her well.

"I don't think it was Corvo who sent you. You wouldn't have made it past the gate, otherwise."

She looked outside and staggered back. The door was where it had been. But the grass had moved - there was a gap between the house and the path that led to it. A tree moved like a cloud on a windy day in the distance. She whirled around, demanded an explanation, when the house had changed. It was as if a giant had pulled a toy house apart. The wooden floor floated apart, the planks moving. Up, down, left and right. Lanterns flickered into life in impossible locations. Blue light flickered and she saw the table with Daud and a single chair, frozen in time. There were two bookshelves, one sinking, the other rising. There was no upper floor. There was no house, no walls. There was just this room against a light blue background.

"Clever Daud," a voice said. "Half a lifetime of guilt wrecking his mind, and he still sees the world for what it really is. I sent you here, Emily."

She looked around, but there was no one else. Daud stood still, a glass in his hand. His expression was neutral. She hated him, for murdering her mother, for taking her away. Then she saw that his index finger is pointing towards his left hand, where the mark of the Outsider was glowing brightly. 

"I would have words with you, Outsider."

The voice chuckles darkly. 

"And I with you, Lady Emily."

**Author's Note:**

> found some old snippets of fics I'll probably never write on my tumblr sideblog, posting them now


End file.
